Ambassador of the United States of America to the Russian Federation

We met with the Ambassador, William Joseph Burns on April 10. Ambassador Burns earned a B.A. in History from LaSalle University and M.Phil and D.Phil degrees in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He is a recipient of three Honoary doctoral degrees. Ambassador Burns is the author of Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt, 1955-1981 (State University of New York Press, 1985). He speaks Russian, Arabic, and French. In 1994, he was named to TIME Magazine’s list of the “50 Most Promising American Leaders under age 40”, and to TIME’s list of “100 Young Global Leaders”
Ambassador Burns and his wife, Lisa Carty, have two daughters.

Now that’s Fresh

Check out the lettuce, it’s still potted.

We Arrived!

We left El Paso at 6:00am on Monday April 2nd and arrived in Moscow at 10:30am Tuesday April 3rd. Our sponsor met us at the airport and then took us to our new abode in the community of РОСИΉΚЕ (pronounced Rosinka) which is 20 km from Moscow. We have a lovely 2 bedroom house, townhouse, or condominium (which ever you prefer).

The following day, Wednesday, we did what anyone would do at a new job – fill out paperwork.

On Thursday, we came home on the Metro. As soon as Terry got on the Metro he had 4 men surround him speaking a language he doesn’t understand, and hands all over him. Terry became another statistic of an attempted pick pocketing.

Pointing at the object if you want at the markets and then extending your hand full of money for them to get the right amount will do for right now until we start our language course in May.

We’ve had security, medical, & computer briefings, have met fellow workers, rode the metro, and went grocery shopping all in this first week.